Nikita

“n 1985, Bob Munro volunteered his time to go and serve in the poorest slums of Africa on behalf of the United Nations. He loved football. One day, he was passing through the Mathare slums in Nairobi, Kenya, which happens to be one of the poorest areas in the world, and where more than a quarter million people live in abject poverty and filth. He saw some children playing football, bare feet, in total grime— they weren’t actually playing football, but kicking each other. As he saw one of the children kick the other, he immediately shouted, ‘Foul’, and the game stopped. He got out of his car and being the white man, obviously stood out. As an ardent lover of football, he said, ‘This is not the way to play football.’ He took the ball and told the boys, ‘Tomorrow I will bring another ball and teach you how to play football.’ The next day, 600 children were there to play football. He made a rule that only those children who clean up the place be allowed to play. He started a volunteers’ group for self-help and said, ‘Those who want to play football as part of my team must clean up.’ The children got involved and started cleaning the slums, and out of love for football, slowly the entire area was cleaned. As time went by, he developed teams to play. He developed referees from within. Guess what was the result in four years? The Kenyan football eleven national team emerged from the same Mathare slums. Bob Munro has created thousands of football teams from there, but the rules are very unique. The rules are very clear that every player in those football teams must contribute 60 hours to social work and community service per month. Only then can they play football. They get additional points not for winning a game, but for completing a community service project such as cleaning, counselling and helping others. He has created 8,000 volunteers out of this system of community service through the love of football.”
― Shiv Khera, You Can Achieve More: Live By Design, Not By Default

“As for all of you who are worried about the hormones in milk and cruelty towards the calf, buy from small farms who look after their cows. And if we had been taught about farming and the basics of agriculture in school, then we would know that if the calf drinks all the milk that the cow produces, it could actually harm him. If you ever visit a farm and observe while a calf drinks off the mother, after a while the cow will push the calf away. This is simply to protect the calf. When it comes to a lactating cow, it’s always two udders for the calf and two for the farmer’s family; the kids will even drink it straight from the udders. This was, and is, a non-cruel, non-harming method for all involved. Indian and African communities knew a thing or two about sustainability long before the word was invented. The ‘untouched by hand’ milk comes from all four udders, so your ‘hygiene’ is coming at the cost of cruelty to the animal.”
― Rujuta Diwekar, Notes for Healthy Kids

“The assumption is that if you have a happy and comfortable life, you have no cause for, or no right to, the despair you’re feeling. We ask that a person pay a price before we allow them to hurt. In short, you can’t be depressed if there’s nothing wrong or if you have no real problems. (Ironically, people who believe this also believe that those with ‘real problems’ don’t have the time or luxury to suffer from depression.)”
― Shaheen Bhatt, I've never been (Un)happier

“What is passion? Passion is a strong emotion— emotion is an energy, which propels us to commit to ourselves. If we need to achieve anything or get somewhere in life, we need to clearly have a focal point and go after it with all we’ve got. Whatever we do, we must put our hearts into it. If we put our hearts into it, it will open new opportunities. People say, ‘If I had a better job, I would put my heart into it.’ It is an illusion. That’s why people do a half day’s job and collect a full day’s salary. No wonder, they do not get anywhere in life. Trying to motivate people who lack passion is like resurrecting someone from the dead. It’s like putting in all your energy to inflate a balloon with a hole in it; no matter how much sweat you put in to blow it up, it will not go up. You inflate, they deflate, you inflate they deflate!”
― Shiv Khera, You Can Achieve More: Live By Design, Not By Default